Alaska: Revenue Forecast Projects Oil Prices and Production Decline - Alaska Department of Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus on Friday released the final revenue forecast of the Murkowski Administration. The main features are record revenues for the current fiscal year reflecting the new Petroleum Profits Tax followed by expected long term revenue decline driven by a decline in ANS production and crude oil prices.

Governor Frank H. Murkowski addresses reporters for the final time, Friday, December 1, during a press conference at the Capitol. The governor gave the opening remarks during the Department of Revenue's Fall 2006 Revenue Forecast announcement. Dept. of Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus and Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation Executive Director Mike Burns look on. Photo by Andy Mills/Office of the Governor.

"Governor Murkowski is absolutely right to put a high priority on the administration's efforts to enable a gas line to the Midwest," Corbus said. "If revenues associated with Alaska natural gas do not kick in before 2014 or 2015, government services will likely be dramatically reduced. This forecast also underscores the need to adopt a fiscal plan now."

Revenue officials project crude oil prices on the West Coast at $59.15 per barrel for FY'07, reflecting a 2.7% decline from FY'06 level of $60.80 per barrel. The department forecasts ANS crude oil prices will decline to $51.25 per barrel in FY'08 and to $49.50 per barrel in FY'09.

The department's long-term forecast for Fiscal 2014 and beyond is $41.50 per barrel increasing with inflation. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

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Alaska: Lynn Canal Highway Contract Awarded; Legal Appeal Puts On Hold - Southeast Road Builders of Haines was awarded an $18.6 million contract on Friday to build a pioneer road from Cascade Point to the Antler River and from the Lace River to the existing Jualin Mine access road; however, the $18.6 million contract to construct a Pioneer Road to the Jualin Mine access road will not be implemented until a legal appeal is concluded with the unsuccessful bidder.

The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Southeast Region office informedSoutheast Road Builders of Haines on Friday that it was awarded the contract. This decision came one day after Superior Court Judge Patrick J. McKay dismissed a request for preliminary injunction filed by the unsuccessful bidder in the project.

However, shortly after the award was announced Friday the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities informed Southeast Road Builders that the $18.6 million contract to construct a Pioneer Road to the Jualin Mine access road will not be implemented until a legal appeal is concluded with the unsuccessful bidder.

The decision on Friday to not implement the $18.6 million contract was made in consultation with the Alaska Department of Law after the unsuccessful bidder, Kiewit Pacific Corp., appealed its preliminary injunction request to the Alaska Supreme Court on Friday. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

Alaska: Governor Receives Interim Report on Energy Policy - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski on Friday received a 133-page interim report on energy policy and strategy recommendations from his Energy Policy Advisor, Nels Anderson, Jr. Murkowski appointed Anderson to the position in mid-October, with the charge to produce a report by December 1.

The report recommends an energy policy that increases supplies, encourages conservation, searches for alternatives to fossil fuels (especially diesel), and seeks to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2025. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

Alaska: Alaska Salmon Included in International Food Aid - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski announced Friday that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a bid to purchase 1,049 tons of Alaska canned Keta (Chum) salmon for food aid to Jamaica, Guatemala and Cambodia.

Shortly after taking office, Governor Murkowski started the Alaska Fisheries Revitalization Strategy. Advocating for fishermen and producers who have the supply and ability to meet the demand of large endeavors like international food aid, part of the strategy was to get the Department of Agriculture to buy Alaska canned Salmon. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

Crosswalk Moose Front Page Photo By Bill Hupe

Fish Factor: Crabbers Pull up last pots, ASMI takes aim at organic, & Jellyfish cookies... By LAINE WELCH - Crabbers are pulling up their last pots as the red king crab fishery at Bristol Bay draws to a close. By all accounts, the industry deserves high praise for the way in which participants worked together this season to stop the unsavory practice of high grading, or sorting out less valuable crabs with darkened or barnacle covered shells.

High grading dominated the fishery last year when nearly 700,000 legal sized "dirty" crabs (about four million pounds) were tossed overboard by crabbers being squeezed by falling wholesale prices and rising fuel costs. Assuming that 20 percent of the discarded crabs died, managers responded by deducting nearly 4.6 percent off the top of this year's catch quota, dropping it to approximately 14 million pounds. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

National: Bush: watch what he does, not what he says By MARC SANDALOW -  It would be reasonable to conclude after watching President Bush in the Middle East this week that the administration has no plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

"This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all," Bush said at a news conference Thursday in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Yet some experts say it would be foolhardy to assume, just because Bush said it, that the statement is true.

There is mounting evidence that the world of public Bush-speak - from his vigorous support for al-Maliki and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to his rejection of direct diplomacy with Syria and Iran - bears little relation to what goes on behind the scenes. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

National: Sites under consideration for new nuclear tests By LAUNCE RAKE - The federal government is looking for a place to resume what it stopped doing 17 years ago at its notorious Rocky Flats facility in Colorado: manufacturing the metal cores at the heart of nuclear weapons.

The sites under consideration are Southern Nevada, and outside Amarillo, Texas; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Aiken, South Carolina.

The chosen site will be used for decades for above- and below-ground test detonations of nuclear bombs.

Intrinsic to the process is the manufacturing of plutonium - a task that is both industrial and high-tech that would bring jobs and educational opportunities to the region. It also conjures up memories of environmental nightmares and, opponents argue, unnecessarily escalates the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

The week in review By THOMAS HARGROVE - Bush promises Iraq that U.S. troops will remain as needed

President Bush on Thursday rejected calls for a systematic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. The calls came as he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan. The Iraqi leader promised that his security forces could take full control by June. A White House memo was leaked to the press this week questioning al-Maliki's leadership abilities, which may have caused him to cancel a scheduled Wednesday meeting with Bush. "He's a strong leader. He's the right guy for Iraq," Bush said Thursday. Iraq Study Group seeks diplomacy, gradual withdrawal

The Iraq Study Group will report next week that the United States must use diplomacy to end insurgent attacks in Iraq, according to leaks to several news organizations. The bipartisan commission led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton will call for a "gradual reduction" of U.S. military forces, but stop short of the deadlines for withdrawal sought by some critics. The report, intended to give President Bush political cover to make policy changes, is expected to be released Wednesday.

Debate continues: Is Iraq in civil war?

Although the White House fiercely rejects the term, a growing number of news organizations and public figures this week said they believe that the violence in Iraq has devolved into outright civil war. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday told a business conference meeting in Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, that the internal strife in Iraq "could be considered a civil war." NBC News executives announced this week they would have the term used in their broadcasts. The Los Angeles Times started using the term in October. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also weighed in, saying the conflict is "almost there" on the path to civil war. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Basic Rules EUPHEMISMS By David G. Hanger - Saturday Consult With Seniors... We Still Have A Brain By Joan Hurliman - Saturday "Era of civility off to rude start" By Jim Terp - Saturday Boorish behavior? By Teddy Goodson - Saturday Seahawkers Tailgate Party By Marcia Collins - Saturday New city sales tax By Renee Schofield - Wednesday AM Re: Cabals By Jim Dornblaser - Wednesday AM RE: Bridges in Alaska are just as important By Rob Glenn - Wednesday AM Letting down the children... By Frances C. Natkong - Wednesday AM Thanks to all By Joan "Trixie" Hurliman - Tuesday AM Rural Residents Soaked Again By James Anderson - Tuesday AM Bridges in Alaska are just as important as elsewhere By Ed Brown - Tuesday AM Bridge!! By Forrest Mackie - Tuesday AM Federal Budget and Pay for Performance By Alan Lidstone - Tuesday AM RE: It may not be to 'nowhere'... By Karen Pitcher - Monday PM Giving During the Season of Hope. By Richard Zellmer - Monday PM Re: President Bush Fails to Learn the Lessons of Vietnam By Ken Bylund - Monday PM Build a cheaper bridge, roads By Robert McRoberts - Monday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Mission complete By: Larry Wright, The Detroit News Read Today's Political Cartoons, Click Here Ketchikan Ketchikan Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Today's Forecast Satellite Today's Weather Images Marine Forecasts Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map CLASSIFIEDS Auto-post your ad in the proper category, or email your ad & photos to ads@sitnews.us  CLASSIFIEDS' CATEGORIES Announcements For Sale / Free Stuff Garage Sales Homes / Apts/ Property Pets Wanted Lost & Found Local Services SitNews Archives November 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S       01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30     More Front Page Archives

Dave Kiffer: Lessons Learned - We learn the most from our parents. We learn second most from our school teachers.

But often there are other people in our community who teach us things that are very important.

I was reminded of that when I heard that Carl Hobbs died a few days ago.

Mr. Hobbs was one of my early sports coaches and although I didn't turn out to be the great basketball player that I always wanted to be, that wasn't Mr. Hobbs' fault. You need great marble to sculpt a Michelangelo and I was made of much softer stuff.

But more than anyone else, Mr. Hobbs taught me how to win, and how to lose.

He also taught me that you could squeeze nine 10 year old boys into a single Volkswagen Bug, but as usual, I digress.

Mr. Hobbs coached the Methodist team in the Ketchikan Church League for many years.

If you think dealing with your own kids is "interesting" then try dealing with a dozen or so "other peoples kids." Imagine trying to keep their attention focused on the task at hand. Imagine trying to get them to do something as complicated as playing basketball. It's not an easy job. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

Thomas P.M. Barnett: Iraqi stability can be found in Tehran, not Jerusalem - Washington waits breathlessly for the report of the Iraq Study Group co-chaired by James Baker and Lee Hamilton. Meanwhile, the Bush administration sets in motion a diplomatic strategy that would, if left in place, most certainly pre-empt the group's most anticipated recommendation: direct talks with Iran and Syria.

Why is the White House effectively sabotaging the study group's plans to initiate a regional security dialogue that includes these two "axis of evil" regimes when all reports indicate they actively fuel the violence in neighboring Iraq? Granted, Iran and Syria can hardly deliver stability in Baghdad, no matter what we offer them, but does anyone doubt they can thwart our own efforts to do the same?

The post-election dismissal of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggested Bush-the-Younger was giving into the GOP establishment's push to place Bush-the-Elder's Mr. Fix-It in charge of our Iraq policy. But apparently this isn't the case. Instead, we're watching former Secretary of State James Baker once again squaring off against former secretary of Defense - and now Vice President - Dick Cheney. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006

Bill Steigerwald: The Beast on the East River - These days nobody but rock stars, actors and grade school kids still seem to love, trust or have much confidence in the United Nations. And Nathan Tabor, a conservative columnist, political activist and founder of the Web site TheConservativeVoice.com, can tell you more than a few good reasons why. The title of his new book, "The Beast on the East River: The U.N. Threat to America's Sovereignty and Security," gives away his major theme. I talked to him by telephone on Tuesday from his home near Winston-Salem, N.C.:

Q: First we should get the nice stuff out of the way: What's the best thing the United Nations does for the United States and the world?
A: Very little. But of course the plans to eradicate world poverty, world hunger, stopping the spread of AIDS and stopping the genocide that's taking place in Third-World countries are all good objectives to have in place.

Q: Are any of these lofty goals being met?
A: In my opinion, no, because you have the oil-for-food scandal. You have reports of molestation and rape in Congo, Somalia and other places. And on the world peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, they are begging and pleading with the United Nations to come in and help and basically getting nowhere.

Q: Everyone is supposed to love the U.N. We're still taught that it's a wonderful global association of governments that's designed to bring the benefits of international law, international security, economic development and social equality to the whole world. Does it really?
A: In 1945, the U.N. was ratified as this world organization to help protect the sovereignty of nations, but at the same time be able to bring people to the table to discuss the issues. But, over the last 30 years, it has turned into an organization that wants full taxing authority, wants full court authority and wants full military authority. They've gone from protecting the sovereignty of nations to wanting to undermine, erode and basically take over. - More...
Saturday - December 02, 2006